But there was no stopping the minister. He was fighting toothlessly to ensure Mr. President declined taking a loan from me. He was among other numerous people who were mostly envious of my rising and wouldn’t mind limiting certain privileges and honors which I enjoyed as a trillionaire. For countless time s he had wondered how rich I would be if I should end up acquiring the oil well
For over thirty minutes, behind closed doors the minister proved his audacity and reasons Rio Hondos shouldn’t take a loan from me. The minister had come to believe that I leapt to being five hundred trillion dollar richer because of the oil well and not my father’s wealth.
When Mr. President shot his menacing gaze at him and let an insolent stare at his body, the minister could feel his impatience subside to fury and he would have called it a wrap if it were a baseless discussion.
But anything targeted at limiting my wealth, even denying me certain privileges wasn’t a baseless discussion. He, the minter had taken it upon himself to bring it to pass.
“Mr. President we have an oil well. With all due respect we have a money-making mechanism in this country, which if put in order could earn us enough money to wave by to borrowing…”
Mr. President’s eyes burned, fury yielding to impatience, “And who told you I am not aware of the national oil well?” he needed a drink now, so he greedily poured for one. “I am very much aware of your so-called money-making mechanism, but I can’t risk spending thirty trillion dollars to fix it up and get it to standard of operation. That is too much money to spend on repair and I don’t have such patience…”
With his posture stiff, the minister’s voice argued with a rare talent, “So should we rather lease out our oil well to Croesus like Mike Don, who would exploit I to amass so much wealth only to have us run back to him when we need money. Come on why don’t we fix this oil well, get our refinery to work and make our money. There won’t be need to lease it and beg Mike Don for money…”
Mr. President snorted, sat back in his chair and queried the minister with his chocolate gloomy eyes.
The minister found himself explaining yet further, “The fifty trillion dollars is too much and borrowing such from the world richest man leaves us on his shoulders. I suggest we do this.” He hastily pulled out a document from his briefcase, “If we do this, we will not only revive the economy but we will have other countries run to us for loan.”
He forced a smile and when his beholder didn’t return the compliment, he leaned over, pointed into the document and explained, “If we can invest thirty trillion dollars into the oil sector, it would only take us five years to operate and regain this economy…”
“Minister!” called Mr. President in his usual eccentric manner, “I presume you know our financial strength right now. You know how broke we are. Where do you think we are going to get thirty trillion dollars to invest in the oil sector and revamp the crashing economy?” His lips curved in anxiety , “Now I don’t want you to mention Asian countries because I am not interested in borrowing from them.” He cautioned and corked an eyelash at him.
The minister sucked a deep breath , had a fallen gaze and pushed back in his chair, “But wouldn’t it be nice idea to take this one final loan from them and fix our economy for good than continue borrowing every now and then from Mike Don?” he said at a breath.
“And what stops the same one final loan being taken from Mike Don, huh? You are not going to value him because he is from your country and you readily see him.” he grinned. “The fact still remains that accessing the fifty trillion dollars from him gets the money circulating in our country because he is still going to spend it here. Isn’t it better than being answerable to those strange countries who would never invest in our country?”
The minister heaved an uneasy sigh and rolled his feeble eyes at his offender. He pulled back in his chair, swirled around and raised frustrated gaze at the ceiling. It was a sign of giving up on the argument and he actually did.
“So what do you suggest we do, Mr. President?” his voice beckoned as he swore under his breath.
Mr. President stood to his feet as if to convey an emphatic statement. He leaned over and sounded, “Mike Don is our savior as far as money is concerned. If he is super rich it is as result of his hard work and family’s inheritance, I don’t have any issue with him being the world richest man forever. All I need is money and a sustainable economy.”
“Okay Mr. President,” replied the minister, “Whatever you say stands.”
“Get our trustee guarantors, legal documents and all that is needed to access a loan. We are going to pay an official visit to the world richest man, and access the loan. Fifty trillion dollars is nothing to him. I believe he will give it to us. Possibly without collateral…”
The minister tossed his head and doubted it, “I don’t think anybody or organization can grant you a loan without collateral, not even the world richest man, who thinks he is the god of wealth.”
“If he wants collateral, we have our real estates and land to give up, am I right?” he queried and managed a smile
The minister forced a smile too, before standing to have handshake with him.
The door banged; he had disappeared.
“How can one man be so rich that a country consults him now to access loan? What is Mike Don made of? And what more surprise do we expect from him?” the minister said in his mind as he walked away.
Surprises and shockers awaited everyone…